Aljazeera has summarised below the information and evidence already in the public domain.

This includes the public statements from key witnesses about what they saw. Aljazeera is gathering all relevant evidence, including that which is not yet in the public domain. It will be provided to the UN and the ICC.

In the early morning of 11 May 2002, Shireen Abu Akleh, along with colleagues from Aljazeera went to the occupied West Bank city of Jenin, to report on an Israeli Army operation in a refugee camp. Abu Akleh and her colleagues wore blue protective jackets, clearly marked with “PRESS” in large white letters, as well as helmets. Abu Akleh and her colleagues began reporting at the entrance to the refugee camp, their presence was immediately noticed, and a small crowd of people gathered to watch the journalists reporting.

 

Video footage and witness accounts

Video footage was taken from the scene, including by Aljazeera cameraman, Majdi Banura, and has been published by media outlets including Aljazeera, CNN and the New York Times. That video footage shows that in the moments, just before she was shot, people were standing nearby talking, laughing, and on their mobile phones. The footage shows her walking alongside other journalists, all in their blue flak jackets, all clearly marked “PRESS”. Suddenly, the sound of firing begins, and the video camera diverts to the ground. Seconds later the footage shows her lying face down and motionless on the ground. A local Palestinian journalist, Shatha Hanaysha, is seen by her side, trying in vain, to help her, observing with horror when her body fails to demonstrate any sign of breathing. In the following moments, the video footage depicts shots continuing as another man tries to move her body and Ms. Hanaysha attempts to take cover behind a tree trunk.

 

Several journalists were present at the scene who stated that there were no Palestinian fighters there and that the journalists were shot at by the Israeli army. Aljazeera producer, Ali al-Samoudi, was accompanying  Shireen Abu Akleh at the refugee camp in Jenin on the morning of May 11. He too was hit by a bullet in his back and fortunately, although injured, survived. Mr. al-Samoudi has said that there were no Palestinian fighters present when they were shot. He explained that they were going to film the Israeli army operation and suddenly, without asking them to leave or to stop filming, the Israeli soldiers shot at them. He recalled that the first bullet hit him, and a second bullet hit Shireen. Abu Akleh.

Shataha Hanaysha, the local Palestinian journalist, who was by Shireen’s side when she was shot, said she believed that the Israel defence forces directly targeted the group of journalists. She added that all the journalists had been wearing protective blue vests that identified them as members of the press; and that there had been no confrontations between Palestinian fighters and the Israeli army. Hanaysha explained to CNN, that the journalists had stood in front of Israeli military vehicles for about five or ten minutes, to make sure that they had seen them before they started reporting.

 

In addition to the journalists who were present at the scene, there were also a number of eyewitnesses, included people from the crowd, who had gathered to watch Shireen Abu Akleh and her colleagues filming. A number of these eyewitnesses reported to CNN that the shooting came from rifles fired from Israeli tanks some way down the road from the refugee camp, where the journalists were gathered. Eyewitnesses said that there were no armed Palestinians or clashes in the vicinity, again suggesting that the Aljazeera journalists were deliberately targeted by the Israeli military.

 

In the hours that followed Shireen Abu Akleh being shot, the Palestinian health ministry reported that she was rushed to the hospital in a critical condition but was declared dead shortly after she arrived at the hospital in Jenin. The head of the medicine department at al-Najah University in Nablus confirmed that she was shot in the head and that her body had been transferred for an autopsy.

 

On the same day that she was killed, an Israeli military spokesperson, Ran Kochav, is reported to have told Army radio that Shireen Abu Akleh had been “filming and working for a media outlet amidst armed Palestinians. They’re armed with cameras if you’ll permit me to say so”. This statement has significant implications. It challenges the very presence of journalists reporting in the West Bank. It implies that journalists reporting in the West Bank are legitimate military targets, which directly contradicts the legal protection provided by the international human rights law, the normative legal framework developed by the United Nations to ensure the safety of journalists, and international humanitarian law.

 

Shireen Abu Akleh’s funeral took place in East Jerusalem two days after her death.

Israeli forces attacked the funeral procession, kicking and hitting people with batons; causing mourners carrying her coffin to lose balance and nearly drop it to the ground.

Aljazeera.